Vol. XLII.
CORVAI.US?, Benton County, .Oueqon, Tuesday, January 3l, 11K5.
11
AN 010 MYSTERY CLEARED
Body of John Westley Stantruff
Found in Alsea Mountains
Inquest Held.
A mystery of eleven yeais
standing was cleared up last week
by the accidental finding of the
remains of John Westley. Staut--ruff,
in the Alsea mountains.
On Jan. 17, 1894, John Stant
ruff left his h ome near Bellfoun
tain, early in the morning, tak
ing his gun, a belt of cartridges,
hunting knife, whetstone, and
other hunters' accessories, and
struck out into the mountains
for a hunt after deer. This
was nothing unusual at that
time as the woods and mountains
abounded with game, both large
and small, and many settlers se
cured their winter's meat in this
way. As John was considered
an ' excellent . woodsman, the
thought of his getting lost was
far from the minds of his parents,
and he had many times before
been away in the mountains two
days at a time before returning
Home, so tnat Ms parents were
not so very uneasy. But later in
the day, along towards evening
the sky became overspread with
storm clouds, and by night
great storm was raging. The
,storm increased in fury and the
now began to fall. It lasted for
fully 36 hours, and is said tohae
been one of the most ternfi
' -1 that has ever swept over that part
of the country. When the hardy
mountaineer failed to return
home, however, after the storm
came ud, his parents-and rela
tives began to feel uneasy, but
expected that perhaps he had
tounn shelter in, the mountaius
and was waiting for the morning
when fee would have daylight to
guide him out of the forest. But
the second day came and het did,
not return.
me tnira day alter young
Stantrufl's disappeai&'rice,. .. his
parents aroused the ; neighbors.
and a searching party went out.
A deep snow had fallen and all
traces or -trie hunter was lost, so
that the searchers had nothing to
go by, but the general direction
that they knew he had taken
1 ne mountains were covered as
thoroughly as possible, and the
search continued several days,
out an trace or mm was lost as
completely as if the earth had
opened up and swallowed him.
Finally he was given up for
good, but everyone had come to
the conclusion that he had met
foul play, and the body had been
destroyed or buried. As time
went on this conclusion became
a conviction in the minds of near
ly all of the settlers in the neigh
borhood. It even came to a
suspicion that his assassin lived
in that section. of the country.
This opinion was held by many
until last weeki
Hunters Find Body.
Last Thursday, Jan. 26, Chas.
Bromfield and J. ,E. Hawkins
were out in the mountains north
west of Green Peak, and about
12 miles from Bellfountain.
They are trappers and hunters,
and were looking for new trap
ping grounds with the intention
of moving further into the moun
tains. Tbey came to a small
mountain stream near its source!
The stream flowed toward the
Alsea valley, down the western
, slope of the mountains. It was
just over the summit of the moun
tains from John Stantruff's home.
Hawkins was in the lead, fol-
' lowing the stream down the
mountain. He came to a large
fallen tree that looked as though
it had been lying there for many
years. As he climbed over the
tree the sight of a rubber toot
met his eye, and glancing further
tip, alongside the body of the
tree, he saw a felt hat. By this
time his companion had caught
up, ' and they investigated farther.
Thev found the bare skeleton of
a man, lying as though he had
sought shelter underneath other
logs that were crossed over the
fallen 're-1. Rubber boots were
stiJl on tu feet of the skeleton,
and other clothing, although
mostly rotted away, partially
Covered the body. A btlt of
cartridges was around the shoul
ders, and a hunting knife, whet
stone and other articles usually
carried by a hunter were in tht
belt.
The men hastened awav to the
nearest house where" a telephone
could be found and called up
Coroner S. N. Wilkius, of -Cor
vallis. He immediately drove
out to the Spudding homestead
claim, where a party of men met
iini, and on account ot the
roughness of the country, the
party struck out from this Domt
on foot, having to go about five
miles into the mountains. Arnv:
ed where the remains were an in
quest was held, and as plenty of
evidence was at hand, the de
cision of the iury was that the
body was that of John Westley
Stantruff, and that he come to
his death from exhaustion and
the extreme coid, about January
18, 1894. ' '
The remains were turned over
to. his mother, and were interred
beside his father, who died Tan
1905. At the time of his
death Tohn Westlev Stantruff
was 29 years of age.
EDWiN STONE DEAD.
Assaulted and Burned at New
port Sunday Morning Died
in Albany Yesterday.
1
John Withycombe Gets Medal.
A large crowd was present
Friday evening at the Armory to
witness the contest between the
different societies for the honor
of representing O AC' at New
berg in the state oratorical con
test, which occurs March 10.
From,7;30 to 8;30 the walls of
the Armory resounded with the
cheers and yells "of the societies.
The program opened with msuic
by the orchestra, after which the
following orations were given:
Sorosis representative, Lucille
Roberts,- "Nature" the Zetaga
thean representative, Ralph
Shepard, "Chief Joseph--Nez
Perces,"
Edwin Stone, manager of the
Corvallis & Eastern Railroad Co.
was assaulted in a room in the
Abbey House, at Newport, last
Sunday morning, and was ser
iously burned in a fire which
started in a room at the time of
the assault. He was taken to
his home in Albany Sunday eve
ning, but died Monday morning
a p o'clock. . . .t
About I o'clock Sunday, morn
ing nre was discovered in the
room in which Mr. btone was
sleeping. When the fire was ex
tinguished Mr. Stone was found
to be unconscious and very seri
ously burned. The indication--
were that he had oeen assaulted.
A big scar shows where he was
struck on the head, and 011 his
arms were black and blue spots
showing where his assailant had
gripped them as he struggled.
While in the room the un
known assaillant must have drop
ped a lighted match, thus start
ing the fire. In the assault, Mr,
btoue was rendered unconscious
and was burned by the fire while
in that condition. The story of
the assault and the origin of the
fire is only conjecture, but all in
dications point to this theory.
The motive of the assault is sup
posed to have been robbery.
Edwin Stone was one of Ore
gon's best known railroad men,
He has bten manager of the C . &
E. R. R. the past ten years. He
was one of Albany's leading citi
zens, and prominent throughout
the state. He was a citizen of
Corvallis for several years before
moving to Albany. .--'-..'
Grange Installs Officers, r
: f. l.
Big Advance Sale
MUSLIN
M
LLER'S
of yVomen's and Chiidrer&s
UNDERWEAR
Co.rvallis .Qrange installed
officers at their regular meeting
held at their ball in OAC Agri
cultural Building last Saturday.
Willamette Grange members led
by Mrs. Mary Whitby and John
Philadelpman repre- Whitaker pertorming the installa
A delicious
sentatiye, Haman Bilyeu, "Gus-lon cerejrony. Prof. George
tavus Adolphus-the Hero" Solo jCoote'is the master for the com-
by Mr. Briggs, oration, Feronian;1DS ea;
representative, Louise Gilbert,
... -r- -1 r. ii Callahan. Crawford, Horner, and
r , , IT ".!Wuhveombe. at Miss
irea tne Lrreat-tne Keiormer" rooins aX the roUecre
Amicician representative, Jonn ., Atthi meeting the-following
TITH 1. .HP1.. l. T : ' , . . 0
vv iLiiycumue, iub vjieao x run- reso mums i condolence were
lunch was served
ladies Snell
Sueli's
tan and Conservator of Liberties"
Solo by Mr. Herse, oration Uto
pian representative, Laura Pratt
"A Message of Light from Dark
ness" Jeffersonian representa
tive, Mark Weatherford, "The
Russo-Japanese War, its place in
History" music by the orchestra. ;
While the points were being
summed up to decide the ' victor
ious ones the societies entertain
ed the audience by their yells. .
Mr. Glen Goodman presided
during the evening and awarded
the prizes as follows. First gold
medal t and fif teen dollars to Miss
Laura Pratt, second gold medal
and nine dollars to John Withy
combe, third, silver medal to
Mark Weatherford. It was after
ward learned that Miss Pratt
was a special student and con
sequently could not represent
the college. This gave Student
John Withycombe first place,
Mark iWeatherf ord second, and
RalphShepard third place, , . '
Mr. Withycombe will go to
Newberg as ,.the representative
of the Oregon Agricultural Col
lege,, and the student body wish
him all success. - '-
These picture jte M a lln el the great nwss ottered at th sale. Cttantw like thfs are stidoa fraud. Take yoar choice
lf ,w " 'n l0l" alwrtreal tl"t tw imie ""' am -wr b " m awjwt- '
Lot -3
tttmtk mSat iatottr. Tike as mat $iraeaB la this KswtaeM as km wish, except die gms. Oil; mill castmo.
Letter List.
For the week ending Jan. 21, 1905
Persona celling for these letters will
please state date on which they were ad
vertised. Tbey will be charged at the
rate of one cent each:
Barney Albright, ' Corvallis Nursery,
Mrs. Mark Doleon, H W Edelman, Fred
M Fuller, Miss Laura Hilton. F R John
son. Mrs. SI. A Lehrhton, Miss Emma
Mischler. 8 W Prindle, TJIysea Segare,
R B Wilkine, Judge Wallace.
B. W. Johnson, P. M.
adop'ed hy tiie grange:
Ga;l is love. His loving kind
ness endurettv forever. He is
worthy to be praised. Blessed
be his name forevermore. Withj
His hand He gtfideth his children
quietly in the pleasant paths of,
peace where they rna' dwell iu
the midst of wisdom and holiness.
He teacheth them to labor and to
wait, to labor for the night
Cometh, to wait that they may
rest till the labors of the new
day crowd upon them. Thus till
the. end 01 hies harvest time,
when He taketh bis wearv chil
dren home. (Thus hath H& led
from our midst, our beloved
Brother. Be it ,
Resolved, therefore; we ex
press our sympathies with the
relatives of our deceased Brother,
Charles E. Moore; and as a solace
to their hearts, wounded and
sore, we commend to them his
straightforward noble life which
had for its abiding foundation an
unerring faith in the right, as it
was pointed out to him by a
Kind Heavenly Father. .
Resolved that Corvallis
Grange has lost one of its most
valuable members in the death of
Brother Moore, and the State at
larsje a most estimable citizen. ;
: Resolved that these resolutions
bespread upon the minutes of
the Grange and copies thereof be
sent to the children of the de
ceased. Dated at Hall of Corvallis
Grange, Jan. 27, 1905.
J. B. Horner,'.
W. J. Kent,
H. L. French,
Committee on Resolutions.
M
. 11
r, Lorvaiiis
Ore
Doit t; .Miss the Opportunity
To,
call at our Furniture. Store and let us show you some nice Art Squares
that We are offering-, until closed out, at greatly reduced prices.
In Massing
Way
Just look at those Malleable Iron Beds we have been telling you about.
They are cheaper than any other because they will last longer. Remember
,. they are warranted for 25 years. It is to your interest
To
Stop
Bit
a
and get our prices on Granite and Tinware. We have just received a large
invoice of these goods. Whether 'you are going to house-keeping or just
furnishing one or more rooms, . let us figure on your bills. Everybody
. welcome to come in
:MM Examine Our Goods.
HOLLENBERG & CADY,
He store that saves you money
gon